page_title: Battle of Lioma
section_title: Germans
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Lioma / Opposing forces / Germans
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. Deutsch-Ost-Afrika, Askaris und Träger Schutztruppe Deutsch-Ost-Afrika Askaris und Träger auf dem Marsch
context_page_description: The Battle of Lioma was fought between the German Empire and British Empire during the East African Campaign of World War I. Having successfully evaded the Allies since late 1917, the German Schutztruppe under Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck waged a guerilla campaign in Portuguese East Africa, attacking and raiding settlements as well as forts in the search of supplies while inflicting as much damage as possible on the Allies. All the while, the Schutztruppe was chased by the British King's African Rifles, which finally cornered the Germans at the village of Lioma on 30–31 August 1918. Led by George Giffard, the British forces almost managed to encircle and destroy the Schutztruppe, but in the end the Germans broke out and successfully retreated. Although greatly weakened by the fighting at Lioma, the Schutztruppe was thus able to remain active until the end of the war.
context_section_description: By 1918, the once strong Schutztruppe, which had successfully resisted the allies for four years, was much depleted and exhausted. Of its peak strength of around 15,000 soldiers in 1916 just about 1,600 were left. Many African as well as European soldiers had deserted or surrendered as the allies overran their home areas in German East Africa, wages were no longer paid, and life in the army became harder and more brutal. Many of the soldiers also became unfit for combat due to the extreme food shortages and disease under which the Schutztruppe suffered. Driven from their territory and unable to regularly recruit or train new soldiers, manpower shortages among the common soldiers were severe, while officers and NCOs became irreplaceable. This was particularly problematic because the Schutztruppe's ability to continue to function as coherent, effective fighting force largely rested upon its experienced and capable leadership.
  Nevertheless, most of the black soldiers who had already served since before the war were still staunchly loyal to Lettow-Vorbeck by 1918, with their fighting spirit and morale remaining largely unshaken. Even though they suffered from exhaustion, poor supplies, hunger, excessive heat or cold, and an increasingly experienced and stubborn opponent in form of the King's African Rifles during the fighting in Portuguese East Africa, these core cadres refused to give up – be it out of loyalty to their comrades, economic self-interest, desire for revenge, or sheer will to survive. Battle-hardened, experienced in mobile bush-warfare, and possessed by a strong esprit de corps after years of warfare, they still constituted a force to be reckoned with. Lettow-Vorbeck himself would judge after the Battle of Lioma that his men had fought "brilliantly" in face of the odds. Willpower alone could not substitute for adequate supplies and reinforcements, however, so that the Schutztruppe's effective combat power had still much declined by 1918, and the Germans could no longer meet strong enemy formations head-on without risking their own destruction.
caption: Schutztruppe askaris and carriers late into the war, when there was little uniformity left among the depleted and exhausted German forces, who had make do with whatever equipment, clothing and supplies they could capture.[16]
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